I can see her collarbones and the vague shape of her breasts through the rippling water, but nothing else. Her dark hair is smoothed back and floating along in the water behind her.
She looks phenomenal. Like a wet dream come true.
But I’m not about to push this little experiment she’s trying. She wants something from me? Then she’s going to have to work for it.
I wasn’t lying about the women I used to bring here. More than once, I had multiple women in the water with me. This lake has some stories to tell.
So why do I feel like I’d trade every single one of those repetitive memories just to watch Olivia swim around in some ill-advised seduction play? Perhaps it’s for the best for both of us that Olivia’s own personality keeps getting in the way of her efforts.
She thrashes suddenly and screams. “What the hell was that?”
I snort with laughter. “Probably just the eels saying hello.”
“Eels? Are you serious?”
“You tell me.”
She takes a deep breath, but keeps her eyes on the water. It’s distracting from her flirting, but I don’t mind that her attention is elsewhere.
Olivia is sexiest when she isn’t trying.
But I doubt many men have told her so. A shame, really—to have a woman like Olivia and no idea what to do with her. How to mold her. How to bend her. How to break her.
Satisfied that no other creatures from below are lurking just out of sight, Olivia turns her gaze back to me. “So as I was saying—uh… wait, what was I saying?”
“You were making a point,” I tell her. “Poorly.”
She glares at me. “We both know I’m just the placeholder wife. You’ll divorce me in a year and replace me with some blonde bimbo with big tits and no gag reflex.”
I smile. “Sounds like my kind of woman.”
But a voice inside my head begs to disagree. Your kind of woman is swimming naked in the lake right in front of you, it says.
I ruthlessly snuff it out.
Although that gets slightly harder when Olivia drifts a few yards closer to the shore. Up here, I can see the dark circles of her nipples, the curve of her hip beneath the surface.
My cock strains in my pants.
“Have you ever been in love?” she blurts suddenly.
I chuckle. “Have you?”
She wrinkles her nose. “Of course.”
“Why didn’t it work out?”
She stops short and sinks back below the water, like it’s easier to lie to me if I can’t see all of her. “It… it just wasn’t right.”
“Then how could it have been love?”
“What are you, some sort of relationship expert?”
“You’re the one who asked.”
“Love doesn’t always have to be hot and passionate and explosive, you know?” she says. “Sometimes, love feels different. It’s more… stable. Safe. Comforting.”
“Boring, you mean.”
“No! Not boring. Just—”
“Monotonous?”
“I’d say dependable.”
“By which you mean tedious.”
She narrows her eyes into slits. “What’s wrong with a relationship you can trust? The whole ‘passionate love affair’ thing—it’s so overrated. Cliché, really.”
“What you’re describing is not love, Olivia. You’re talking about a safety net. If you loved someone, you’d do anything for them. Live for them. Kill for them. Die for them.”
She looks taken aback. “I cared about the men I dated.”
“Not enough to stay, though.”
She frowns, thinking about it. “I just… I guess I wanted something different for myself.”
“Excitement, perhaps?” I suggest. “Passion? Lust? Desire?”
“Those things will only get you into trouble,” she says with a subtle tremor in her voice.
“The way they got you into trouble with me?”
“What makes you think I felt any of that for you?”
“Because you’re a social recluse who managed to convince herself to have sex with a stranger in the bathroom of an airplane,” I tell her. “You wouldn’t have risked stepping out of your comfort zone if you didn’t truly want it.”
I can see that she’s not happy with my logic. Because she knows she can’t argue with it.
But this conversation is working in my favor. She’s so involved now that she’s forgotten to be modest. She’s walked herself out of the lake so far that I can see her breasts and the flat plane of her stomach.
“Okay, fine, congratulations,” she snaps. “You successfully seduced me. Are you proud? Want a medal?”
“If you’re offering.”
She rolls her eyes. “Right. Stupid question.”
When my eyes dip down to her breasts, I see that her nipples are hard points now. “Getting cold?” I ask wickedly.
She darts back beneath the water and scowls at me. “Don’t you have someplace to be?”
“Why would I leave now?” I ask. “When you so thoughtfully stripped naked and got into that lake just for me?”
“I did not do anything for you.”
“Oh, please, Olivia. Choose something better to lie about. You knew I was here.”
“I… I did not.”
I stare at her, my smile spreading as her frustration builds. “Somehow, I don’t believe you.”
“You think you know everything!”
I shrug. “I know I know everything.”
She’s shivering now, though the lake and the day are both warm. Maybe it’s my presence that does it to her.
“You are cold,” I comment. “You shouldn’t linger in there or you’ll get sick.”
“Are you going to turn around while I get out?” she asks.
“Not a chance in hell, kiska.”
“Asshole.”
I smile. “I’ve seen you naked before, Olivia. This won’t be new or spectacular for me.”
The voice in my head tolls again: Liar. Liar. Liar.
I know my words are harsh, but they have a purpose. She needs to learn the rules if she wants to play the game.
She’s getting better, though. Little by little. Her face falls the way it always has when I treat her cruelly, but she schools her expression quickly into indifference.
Then she wades through the water towards me. I push myself off the tree and take a few steps closer. The moment I see her breasts come out of the water, rivulets pouring around her chest and dripping down her flat stomach, electric desire tears through me.
Then I see the perfect V between her legs. Her slim thighs wobble a little as she steps out of the lake and tiptoes across the bank.
She moves quickly, reaching for the dress that she discarded on the grass and holding it over herself.
“Let me know if you need a hand,” I drawl.
She ignores me and pulls on her panties. They’re simple white cotton, but somehow she manages to make them the sexiest lingerie I’ve ever seen.
She shrugs into the dress afterwards, though the water on her skin immediately starts to turn it see-through. I wonder how long it’ll take her to realize.
“What are you smirking about?” she demands.
I shrug. “Just appreciating the show.”
She blushes, but tries to hide it behind a scowl. “Like I said—asshole.”
“I am curious as to what brought it on, though. Is there something you want from me, Olivia?”
She shakes her head. “No.”
“Okay then. Since you’ve gone gun shy on me, I’ll tell you what I want.”
She tenses immediately. “What do you want?”
“I want you to make a call to your brother,” I say. “A casual call, so that he doesn’t suspect I’m the one who put you up to it.”
She frowns. “Why?”
“I need information on the investigation.”
“How many times do we have to go over this? He’s not going to disclose that kind of stuff to me.”
“I think he will,” I demur. “Especially because you’ve been calling him regularly, haven’t you?”
Her eyes go wide with realization. “That’s why you allowed the calls,” she gasps. “So that Rob wouldn’t suspect anything when I called him up and started asking questions about the FBI.”
“I never do anything without a good reason.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not doing that.”
“As a matter of fact, you will do it,” I snarl, pulling out my phone and handing it to her. “And you’ll do it right fucking now.”
She stares at me, her nipples hard as rock and poking through her soaked dress. But I don’t think she’s even registering the cold anymore. She’s wondering how she can talk to her brother and alert him to the fact that I’m listening in on their entire conversation.
“You’re really going to make me do this?” she asks finally.
“Put it on speakerphone.”
She takes a deep breath and dials Rob’s number. I can see the anxiety on her face the moment it rings. On the second unanswered ring, she cuts the line.
“He must be busy.”
“Try again.”
“But—”
“Now.”
She meets my gaze for an endless few seconds before she caves and re-dials. Three rings and he picks up, his tone cold and business-like.
“Agent Lawrence.”
“Rob?”
“Liv,” he says, dropping the formal tone. “Is everything alright?”
“Of course, of course, everything’s fine,” she says, eyeing me warily. “I… I just… wanted to talk. Are you free?”
She’s hoping he’ll say he isn’t, but he disappoints her instantly. “Of course.”
I take a step towards her and grab her arm, a gentle reminder that she needs to keep to her end of the bargain. Goosebumps prickle her skin, but she doesn’t try to get out from under me.
“How are things, uh… going?” she asks. “Like, with work.”
“Slowly,” he sighs. “The Bureau is losing interest in pursuing this investigation.”
“Are you serious?” she blurts out, before remembering who she’s with.
“But I’m not going to give up that easily, Liv. Especially after what you—”
“It’s fine,” she blurts. “I’m fine.”
I have to resist the urge to roll my eyes. Does she really think I don’t know about the scarf? Does she really think anything happens in this fucking house without me knowing about it?
“Where are you now?” Rob asks.
“In the garden.”
“By yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” he says, his tone flatlining for a moment, before it picks up again. “I am a little busy at the moment, Liv.”
“Okay, no worries. I’ll call later.”
“Goodb—” The word is cut off by her hanging up too quickly.
She passes the phone back to me, trying to look as innocent as possible. “There,” she says. “I did what you asked.”
“Did you?” I ask. “Because all I heard was you giving your brother the tip-off.”
“Listen, I—”
Before she can go on, I reach out, grab her arm, and yank her towards me. She slams against my chest with a wet slap and a cry.
“What do you take me for?” I demand. “What kind of idiot do you think I am?”
“I did what you asked!”
“Careful, kiska. You don’t want to piss me off.”
“Ow,” she winces as my grip on her arm tightens. “You’re hurting me.”
It’s distracting, the way her nipples are rubbing up against me. But I suppress my desire for her and instead let her see the don I must be.
“Your phone line will be disconnected starting today,” I tell her. “No more family chats for you.”
Her eyes go wide with shock. “What? No! You can’t do that!”
“I can do whatever the fuck I want.”
I push her hand away and she stumbles backwards. As much as I want to stay and undress her with my eyes, then my hands, I turn and start walking away.
“Aleks! You can’t do this.”
“I already have.”
“Please!” she cries, forcing me to a standstill. “Please, I have to be able to talk to them.”
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you pissed me off.”
“I did what you asked me to do!”
“Bullshit. You want me to hold up my end of the bargain? Then you’ve got to hold up your end, too. Otherwise, get used to being Mrs. Makarova.”
Her eyes go wide with alarm, but I’m not about to take back the threat. I turn and walk away, and as I go, I realize that, deep down…
Part of me is hoping she’ll fail.
